1. Directi, the Yesteryears
by, Bhavin Turakhia
CEO, Directi (

2. 1989 – 1994

4. Pointer 1
“Read … a LOT!!”

6. “Read a LOT of biographies”
Pointer 2
“Read a LOT of biographies”

7. Pointer 3
“Build your Business / Career in something you would gladly do for FREE!!”

8. “If you are gonna spend time thinking, you might as well Think BIG!!”
Pointer 4
“If you are gonna spend time thinking, you might as well Think BIG!!”

9. The Internet Revolution
The Internet Revolution

10. 1996
Faced considerable resistance from Parents concerning career choice, especially post 12th results 

11. “If you can or you think you can’t, you are Right”
Pointer 5
“If you can or you think you can’t, you are Right”

12. “Don’t keep thinking … Just Do it!!”
Pointer 6
“Don’t keep thinking … Just Do it!!”

13. “Have conviction in yourself”
Pointer 7
“Have conviction in yourself”

14. 1996 - 1997 1. Started Bits and PCs - Failed
2. Started The Web Spinners - Failed

15. Pointer 8
“What you learn on your own is as/more important than what you learn at school”

16. 1996-1997 The Birth of Directi Registered the domain name
Wrote a humongous piece of software that noone wanted !!!

17. “Being ahead of your time is not always an advantage”
Pointer 9
“Being ahead of your time is not always an advantage”

18. Pointer 10 “Success is a bad Teacher”
“Failures are Stepping stones to Success”

19. “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”
Pointer 11
“If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”

20. 1997 Fundamental Tenets of Directi’s vision
Products and not Outsourced Services
Volume based products
Internet related products
Global focus

21. “Establish a base set of guiding principles”
Pointer 12
“Establish a base set of guiding principles”

22. 1998 Borrowed 25k from Dad Bought my first server at Alabanza
Got 40 clients in the first month
Repaid loan and continued growing

23. “Become cash flow positive as soon as possible”
Pointer 13
“Become cash flow positive as soon as possible”

24. 1999 First employee – Kunal Sheth Played Peon to President
Automated tons of initial processes – mainly collection
Introduced bulk packages for the first time
First yr turnover – 4 lacs

25. “Credit and Collections can kill you”
Pointer 14
“Credit and Collections can kill you”

26. “Do unto others what you would have them do to you”
Pointer 15
“Do unto others what you would have them do to you”

27. 1999
Divided time between marketing and development
Grew team

28. “Spend time on the field actually selling your products”
Pointer 16
“Spend time on the field actually selling your products”

29. 2000 Continued to grow team and clientele
Promoted ourselves in tons of conferences

30. “Continue adding people”
Pointer 17
“Continue adding people”

31. 2001

32. “Vertical Integration is a common growth strategy”
Pointer 18
“Vertical Integration is a common growth strategy”

33. Pointer 19
“It can be easier to sell new stuff to existing Customers than to sell existing stuff to new Customers”

34. 2001-2002 Continued to grow rapidly
Brought on several elite clients / Multiplied clientele
Adopted a Reseller focused model
Moved to a new office
First inflection point – 5 people to 30
Functional departments – dev / support / sales / sysad / finance etc
Launched dedicated servers, newer control panels
Launched Transecute – 1st PG

36. Pointer 20
“Get things done!!”

37. “Focus on your strengths”
Pointer 21
“Focus on your strengths”

38. 2003 Moved to newer offices – 100 seater
First layer of Managers and Functional heads
Crossed 100,000 Customers, despite dotcom crash
Penchant for Automation
Automated everything – stuff that didn’t need automation 
Billing, HRIS, Knowledge Management, Support Desk, Sales Automation, Reporting etc

39. 2003

40. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”
Pointer 22
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”

41. Pointer 23
“Processify, Automate, Processify, Automate, Processify, Automate, Processify, Automate”

42. “Invest in Knowledge Management Software”
Pointer 24
“Invest in Knowledge Management Software”

43. 2003+ Kept buying addtl Real Estate
100 -> 200 -> Automated everything – stuff that didn’t need automation 
Billing, HRIS, Knowledge Management, Support Desk, Sales Automation, Reporting etc
Culture percolation, Values etc became challenges

44. “Don’t underestimate the importance of information percolation”
Pointer 25
“Don’t underestimate the importance of information percolation”

45. Pointer 26
“Don’t tell them what to do. Tell them what we stand for, what we believe in, what are our values”

46. “Negotiate great Real Estate deals”
Pointer 27
“Negotiate great Real Estate deals”

47. 2003+ Kept launching additional products and Business Units
, Web hosting, Ded servers, Reseller interfaces, Digicerts, PG, Sitebuilder, Antispam / Antivirus etc
Reseller Automation Suite
Registrar Automation Suite
LogicBoxes
WebHosting.info

48. “Many of our Products were built for our own use”
Pointer 28
“Many of our Products were built for our own use”

49. Pointer 29
“Eat your own Dog Food”

50. Pointer 30
“The more services they buy from you the lesser the chance that they will leave”

51. 2004+ Skenzo Parking – Initial Stage
Grew offices (had to lease space) – 300+
Crossed 200,000 Customers

52. 2004+

53. 2005+ Launching a new business unit every 2 years
Mid Management layer for each unit / team

54. Pointer 31
“If you are not going to be a market leader there is no point in spending time on it”

55. Directi Today A $300 million tech enterprise
500+ employees and growing
Ranked amongst Fastest Growing technology companies in Asia and India (Deloitte and Touche ‘05, ‘06, ‘07 & ‘08)
Doubled our employee strength every year over the last 3 years, with a CAGR of over 30%

56. Directi Today
6+ businesses; all amongst the Top 5 or 10 worldwide in their respective industry
25+ indigenously developed Web Products, Properties and Services
All businesses are exponentially profitable and funded only through internal accruals since inception 56

57. Directi Today Offices in 4 countries -
Mumbai, Bangalore & Delhi – India
Dubai – UAE
Xiamen – China
San Francisco – USA

58. Directi Today Millions of Customers in 240+ countries
Over 53,000 Global Channel Partners 58

59. “Dream it, Achieve it!!”

60. Building a multi-billion dollar enterprise
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